Heel rest for displaying women&#39;s shoes



y 23, 1968 B. WALTERS v 3,385,548

HEEL REST FOR DISPLAYING WOMEN'S SHOES Filed May 31, 1966 INVENTOR BE N WA L TE RS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,385,548 HEEL REST FOR DISPLAYING WOMENS SHOES Ben Walters, 4600 E. 11th Ave., Miami Beach, Fla. 33139 Filed May 31, 1966, Ser. No. 554,014 9 Claims. (Cl. 248346) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A heel rest circular in cross-section, for a womans shoe and having a diameter sufiicient to position the sole of the shoe on a common surface. A wedge-shaped circumferential groove for holding the heel and disposed on the outer peripheral surface of the heel rest.

In general, this invention relates to a new and improved heel rest for displaying womens shoes and, more particularly, to a heel rest which can be used with womens shoes having heels of different sizes and shapes and which is inexpensive to manufacture and does not mar the beauty of the shoe when on display.

The average womans shoe is made so that the toe portion is raised a bit off the surface on which it rests. Thus, it would be unsightly for display purposes to have a womans shoe rest on a flat surface. To overcome this, a heel rest is needed to raise the heel of the shoe so that the toe portion of the shoe rests fiat on the surface on which it stands, thus making a proper appearance when displayed.

The heel rests utilized for display purposes presently on the market are of two types. First, there is a U shaped plastic member where the heel is placed within the legs of the U to hold it in place. Another type of heel rest presently utilized is made with a metal spring that holds the heel rest to the heel. In both cases, the constant use of the heel rest causes the spring to weaken and stretch. Also, the spring portion of the heel rest hides a substantial portion of the heel. As the spring portion of the heel rest begins to weaken, the shoe is subject to wobbling. This can be further accentuated in those heels wherein the soles are curved rather than fiat across the vamp portion. Therefore, it is the general object of this invention to avoid and overcome the foregoing and other difficulties of prior art practices by the provision of a new and better heel rest for displaying womens shoes.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a new and better heel rest for displaying womens shoes which covers only an insignificant portion of the heel so as to allow the entire shoe to be on display.

Still another object of this invention is the provision of a new and better heel rest for womens shoes which can be utilized with shoes having top lifts of various sizes and shapes.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a new and better heel rest for displaying womens shoes which will firmly hold the heel of the shoe in place and prevent wobbling while on display.

A still further object of this invention is the provision of a new and better heel rest for displaying womens shoes which does not utilize springs and is therefore not dependent upon the continued elasticity of the spring for its operation.

Still another object of this invention is the provision of a new and better heel rest for displaying womens shoes which is virtually indestructible and which can be manufactured of a transparent material so as to avoid any detraction from the beauty of the shoe.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The objects of the present invention are achieved by utilizing a circular heel rest having a circumferentially extending groove of a varying width with the edges of the groove being wedge shaped so that a heel of a shoe can be supported for display by placing the top lift at the widest portion of the groove and moving it about the groove until the top lift is wedged into place. The heel rest is preferably made of a clear plastic so as to avoid any distraction from the beauty of the shoe. The Wedge-shape of the groove insures that only the edges of the heel rest groove contact the lift to achieve maximum pressure on the lift and, further, the depth of the groove is relatively small so that even if the heel rest were to be made of an opaque material, the lift would be only covered to an extremely minor extent.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there are shown in the drawings forms which are presently prefered; it being understood, however, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of the circular heel rest of the present invention shown supporting a womans shoe (in phantom) for display purposes.

FIGURE 2 is a right-side elevational view of the heel rest of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view of the heel rest of FIGURE 1 taken along lines 3-3.

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIGURE 5 is a front elevational view of the embodiment of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is a cross-sectional view of the heel rest of FIGURE .5 taken along lines 6-6.

In FIGURE 1, there is shown a heel rest 10 built in accordance with the principles of the present invention utilized to support and display a shoe 12 shown in phantom. The shoe 12 is an ordinary high-heel shoe having a sole 14 and a heel 16, the heel 16 having a top lift 18 at the bottom thereof. The shoe 12 is lifted at its heel by the heel rest 10 so that the sole 14 will be substantially Hat on the display surface (not shown) so that, when looking at the shoe from the front thereof, no portion of the soles 14 is exposed.

The heel rest 10 is tubular in shape and has formed on a portion of its outer surface 20, a circumferential groove 22. The groove 20 is tapered in width from a wide end 24 to a narrow end 26. The groove 22 has a substantially uniform depth of approximately one-eighth inch in one preferred embodiment of the present invention. The outer diameter of the tubular heel rest in this preferred embodiment is one inch.

The groove 22, in addition to tapering over its circumferential length from the wide end 24 which, in the preferred embodiment, was approximately five-eighths inch in width to the narrow end 26 which was approximately one-quarter inch in width, is provided with tapered side walls 28 and 30, which tapered wide walls give a wedgeshape to the groove 22. The tapered side walls 28 and 30 are cut at approximately a 30 angle.

Since the width and shape of the top lifts of womens shoes vary considerably in accordance with the size and design thereof, and further in the material of which the lift is manufactured, it is not practical to design a heel rest capable of use with only one style, size and type of heel lift. Thus, one shoe lift may be three-eighths of an inch in diameter and straight through its entire length While another may be one-half inch in diameter and tapered over its length. Further, one heel lift might be manufactured of leather or plastic and another of rubber or metal.

In order to utilize the heel rest 10 of the present invention, it is only necessary to take the heel lift 18, place it adjacent the widest end 24 of the groove 22, and force the heel lift 18 into the groove 22 as the groove 22 gradually becomes narrower. When the heel lift 18 reaches a point where it is wedged tight and requires force in the opposite direction to dislodge it, the heel rest 10 is in its proper position. By reason of the circular configuration of the heel rest 10, the heel 18 will always be placed at substantially the same height from the ground surface. Because of the Wedge configuration of the groove 22, normally only the edges of the walls 28 and 30 of the groove 22 contact the top lift 18 thereby increasing the pressure of the wedge because all of the pressure is concentrated on a very small area of the lift 18. As stated previously, the top lift 18 extends into the groove 22 a distance, in the preferred embodiment, only one-eighth of an inch. Thus only a minimum amount of the top lift 18 is covered by the heel rest 10. Further, the heel rest 10 is, in the preferred embodiment, manufactured of a transparent rigid plastic material and thus even that portion of the heel rest 10 positioned with the groove 22 can be seen by prospective purchasers. The tubular shape of the heel rest 10 additionally adds to its unobtrusive appearance.

In FIGURES 4, and 6, there is shown a second heel rest substantially similar to the heel rest 10 of FIG- URE 1, except that the groove 22' extends totally about the circumference of the surface 20 of the heel rest 10'. Thus, the wide edge 24 of groove 22' is co-linear with the narrow edge 26 and a continuous groove 22' is formed having tapered side walls 28 and 30'.

Thus the heel rest 10 has a gradually narrowing groove 22' covering the entire circumference of the circular heel rest while the heel rest 10 has its circumferential groove 22 extending only over a semi-circular are on the surface 20. The groove 22 necessitates starting at the widest portion 24' and working around until the wedge point is found. This is a little more time consuming than the semi-circular groove 22 of the heel rest 10. In both embodiments, the wide and narrow portions of the groove are identical as is the depth and taper of the sides.

The heel rest 10 can be of any circumference Within the limitations of desired height of the support heel 14 and, accordingly, of any width greater than the width of the groove 22. As stated Previously, it is preferably made of a clear plastic material, but can be made of an opaque plastic, metal, glass, wood, or ceramic material. Although preferably manufactured in a tubular configuration, it may be solid or some variation of both of these configurations.

By reason of the wedge action of the groove 22, the heel lift 18 is always firmly held in place. Thus, the heel rest 10 is not dependent upon any springs or the like whose elasticity vary over prolonged use.

On many womens shoes, the soles are not quite flat across the vamp portion. This causes the shoe to tilt or lean from one side to the other. Because the circular heel rest is wedged tight to the heel lift of the shoe, it will hold the shoe upright at all times.

The heel rest 10 or 10 can be used to support the sole of the shoe mounted on its side with the sole being wedged in the gradually narrowing groove on the outer surface of the heel rest so that a shoe can be displayed with its toe extending upwardly and its heel resting on the display surface to provide an unusual side view, where such is desired.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and, accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of the invention.

I claim in my invention:

1. A heel rest for displaying womens shoes, said heel rest comprising a rigid base having a height sufiicient when a heel lift of a womans shoe is placed on the upper surface thereof to make the sole of the womans shoe rest fiat on the common surface supporting both the rigid base and shoe, said rigid base being circular in crosssection and having a groove extending circumferentially on its outer surface, said groove tapering in width from a width slightly greater than the widest womans shoe heel lift to be supported to a width slightly less than the narrowest womans shoe heel lift to be supported, said groove having a substantially uniform depth less than the height of any womans shoe heel lift to be placed therein.

2. The heel rest of claim 1 wherein said groove, at its widest point is approximately five-eighths inch in width, said groove at its narrowest point being approximately one-quarter inch in width, said groove having a depth of approximately one-eighth of an inch.

3. The heel rest for displaying women's shoes of claim ll wherein said groove side walls are tapered outwardly to form a wedge-shape, whereby when a heel lift is forced into engagement with the wedge-shaped side Walls, pressure will be exerted against the sides of the lift concentrated on a very small area of the lift.

4. The heel rest for displaying womens shoes of claim 3 wherein said base is dimensioned to maintain the portion of the groove engaged by any particular heel lift an equal distance from the supporting surface for the base as any other portion of the groove engaged by any other heel lift.

5. The heel rest of claim 3 wherein said circumferential groove extends 360 about the outer surface of the rigid base.

6. The heel rest of claim 3 wherein said rigid heel rest is tubular in cross-section.

7. The heel rest of claim 3 wherein said rigid base is manufactured of a clear transparent material.

8. In combination with a womans shoe adapted to be supported for display purposes on a fiat surface, a heel rest comprising a rigid base circular in cross-section and having a height sufiicient when placed under the lift of the shoe to cause the toe portion of the sole of the shoe to rest fiat on the supporting surface, the rigid base having a groove formed circumferentially on the outer peripheral surface and tapering in width from the width slightly greater than the width of the heel lift to a width slightly less than the width of the heel lift, s aid groove having a substantially uniform depth less than the height of the shoe lift to be supported thereon.

9. The combination of claim 8 wherein said groove has a wedge-shape whereby the lift may be forced from the portion of the groove having a width greater than the heel lift toward the portion of the groove having a width less than the heel lift to be wedged therein.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,620,072 12/1952 Searcy 211-35 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,109,019 6/1961 Germany.

ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner.

FRANK DOMOTOR, Assistant Examiner. 

